Weeks Away!

I am knocking on wood SO HARD right now since I just made this title "Weeks Away!"

If everything goes according to plan, we are literally weeks away from traveling to China to get our girl!

Last week we had the pleasure of spending some time with family while in Michigan over Spring Break. While we were there, I was still a crazy lady, incessantly calling Immigration to see if they offered the final approval for Caroline Grace to join our family. On Thursday of last week, the amazing Officer Clark emailed to let us know that they approved our i800 request to adopt Caroline specifically. He mailed me a hard copy approval, and also mailed a copy to the National Visa Center so they can process Caroline's visa paperwork for immigration into the US.

I've been emailing the NVC daily since Monday. Finally this morning I called, and received what's called our GUZ number and our invoice number. Pretty much, it just means that they've received the approval from USCIS and have it logged into their system. This morning I was able to complete our final immigration form for Caroline, called the DS260. It was SO SURREAL. As her petitioner, I had to fill it out AS her. I listed "mother" as me, and "father" as Kris. I was able to list her address as our house. MY HEART.

My heart was overwhelmed filling out this form. It was extensive, and super interesting. We were asked if Caroline had any plans to participate in espionage, fund terrorists or had a history with child soldiers. I was overjoyed, but also really sad that these questions exist.

Right now, we are awaiting one more piece for us to have our final documents submitted in China (I mean, literally, right now. I've been sitting on hold for 31 minutes so far with the NVC to see if they have sent everything to China yet).

The National Visa Center will forward our information to the US consulate in Guangzhou, and once that occurs, they are supposed to email us a PDF letter explaining that it has been sent. Once we receive that PDF, our agency representative will forward our documents for our Article 5 to their in-country representative, who will courier the packet to the consulate. This has a 10 business day review period. Lord willing, this will be dropped off early next week. Once our in-country rep picks up our Article 5, they will overnight it to Beijing to the CCCWA for Travel Approval. These have been taking an average of 7 days lately.

We can travel one to two weeks after receiving travel approval, depending on when we get our final consulate appointment for.
AHHHH! I die. We are thrilled beyond measure. But truthfully, I am beyond anxious. There is SO much unknown, and we are truly feeling every emotion in the book, at the same time. It's SO WEIRD.

We have been waiting to get Caroline's room ready since I keep thinking I might jinx myself. Now, here we are, maybe 4 weeks away from travel, and I find myself absolutely over the moon, but absolutely scrambling.

Will you pray?

Will you pray for speed over the next few steps?

Will you pray for peace? For us, and obvious for Caroline Grace and her foster family.

We are so thankful to have the support we have. Thank you for loving and supporting us so well, and encouraging us every step of this journey. GUYS, WE ARE SO STINKING CLOSE!

Have an awesome weekend. I'll update much sooner as these next few steps are typically all so close.